We reported earlier about the rumor that BMW was considering to build a fourth model at the US plant in Spartanburg, SC. Ian Robertson, member of the BMW board of management responsible for sales and marketing, now confirmed with FAZ that they were actually looking into this. While there's no final decision, Robertson said they "would by no means put that off the table." The US market continues to be the most important market for premium vehicles, so an US production would make sense for either the F10 5-series or the new F30 3-series coming later this year.

BMW currently produces the X3, the X5 and the X6 at the Spartanburg Plant. As Robertson puts it, "the Spartanburg plant still has enough capacity to allow the production of additional models."

According to FAZ, BMW sold 266,000 cars in the US in 2010 which is makes for a market share of 2.3 percent. It's no surprise that Robertson refers to the US as BMW's "second homeland." BMW recently invested as much as 1 billion Dollar to expand the US plant for the production of the X3. The increased capacity of 240,000 models per year made for 1,600 new jobs. Robertson went on to say that the additional capacity was needed because the USA were the most important market outside of Germany.

BMW standards for their manufacturing facilities aren't downgraded outside of Germany. Consider it a BMW embassy here in the US. Take the time and visit the facility in SC. I've been there a few times. It's most impressive to say the least, and the employees really take pride in their work.

Hope the QC is not dropped to the minimum. Beside this it's a great news for you guys. Cheaper cars, faster delivery if build to order and so on. Hopefully the drop off production the GM tranies and use only ZF and or Aisin. If they go DCT let it be Borg-Warner, Getrag or Ricardo. No more GM stuff...

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Diesel Power Europe
German forum: You ask a question and you get an answer.
US Forum: You ask a question, you get an answer and you are asked back another question.
Bulgarian Forum: You ask a question...5 people starts explaining you how dumb you are, for asking such a stupid question!!!

Do you guys do know that the Rosslyn plant in South Africa exports to the USA, Canada, sub-Saharan Africa, Japan, South-East Asia, Australia and New Zealand? You might have a 3 built in SA...

And the plant has been awarded Gold JD Power awards and exports about 80% of it's production

Nope! Made sure it was built in Germany. My main concern is the same as many others. I would like to take EU delivery next time. I guess performance center delivery wouldn't be that bad... It's just not Germany...

I know it brings jobs to USA...but urgh... I don't really want another Ford or GM quality car

You know it's not about the people that build the car, it is about the people that control the people the builds the car. Good quality control, with the same parts, don't think the germans are much more different than the americans...it is all about control...

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Diesel Power Europe
German forum: You ask a question and you get an answer.
US Forum: You ask a question, you get an answer and you are asked back another question.
Bulgarian Forum: You ask a question...5 people starts explaining you how dumb you are, for asking such a stupid question!!!